


Ruby Has Two Hands

by araniladin



Category: RWBY
Genre: Caring and Crying, F/F, Kinda spolierly for V7, White Rose - Freeform, more to come - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-24 14:22:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21339661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/araniladin/pseuds/araniladin
Summary: On their way to Mantle, Ruby and Weiss try to hash out what they are and some possbilities
Relationships: Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 16
Kudos: 132





	1. WhiteRose Cuddling

Amenity Arena rose up around Ruby. The seats were awash in darkness, but flashes of white and red reminded Ruby the Grimm were around. In the middle of the arena floor, the only light.

But in that light, a body, cut into pieces. Her head was placed on top of it, staring at Ruby. The pupils were wide, swallowing up everything. 

Ruby wanted to run. To flee. She found her feet to heavy to move, her body unwilling to look away from the body of her first love, of her greatest friend.

Penny opened her mouth, static robbing her words of sound, but not meaning.

“I thought you loved me?”

It drove Ruby to her knees. Tears splattered the sand around her. All the tears she shed since she left Penny on that floor. She was awash in it but it wasn’t enough, never enough.

Penny died and Ruby failed, and everyone left and more died and it was all her fault.

“RUBY!” Hands cupped her face, a thumb brushing away her tears. “Ruby wake up, you’re having a nightmare. Come on, you dolt, wake up.”

Opening her eyes, Ruby found herself in the back of an airship. The airship they stole. Above her, a snow angel brushed her hair aside, scowling.

Weiss always scowled at Ruby’s nightmares, because she never could do anything about them. Ruby knew she scowled because if she didn’t, Weiss would be crying alongside her.

“Hey, it’s okay, you’re okay,” Weiss said. She moved to rest Ruby’s head in her lap. “Penny?”

Ruby sniffed, but nodded. After the Fall of Beacon, her nightmares included everyone, from long forgotten dreams of her mother to Roman Torchwick. From what Yang told her, trauma does that. Most of them faded, but a few stuck around. Penny, Pyrrha, they were her most common now. That and the one with Weiss murdered by Cinder, but Ruby refused to talk to her about that. It was still too fresh.

She was sure Weiss knew something about it, cause Ruby avoided Jaune whenever she had one. While they had forgiven him, and Cinder had been the one target Weiss, his actions had started the whole chain of events. Trauma was not always rational and Ruby knew rationally it wasn’t his fault. Just her dreams tended to be less forgiving.

“You did what you could, the best you could,” Weiss stroked Ruby’s face. Ruby kept quiet, enjoying the touch of those warm fingertips.

“Penny loved you, and I’m sure she wanted you to be happy.”

Ruby closed her eyes, keeping the tears from spilling over. She nodded. “I know, I know.”

“Good.” Weiss kissed Ruby’s forehead. “Dolt.”

That cracked Ruby’s melancholy, and she smiled. “You’re too good for me, ice queen.”

“I know.” Grabbing Ruby’s hand, she adjusted so that they were both comfortable. “Get some more sleep, we’re still a few hours out.”

Ruby nuzzled into Weiss’ lap, but kept her eyes open. “What about you? I doubt you can sleep like that.”

“I’m fine,” Weiss said, trying to stifle a yawn. “Just had another cup of coffee.”

Frowning, Ruby pulled up her cloak and started shivering. She knew it was underhanded, but Weiss was stubborn. 

Ruby was scared that Weiss would have regressed back to what she had been their first year. Instead, she had dragged Ruby into a private room and confessed her feelings. It was the most open and vulnerable Ruby knew Weiss to be, and she never saw it again. Not as open, anyway. The ice queen opted to stay in Ruby’s room, made sure Ruby’s coffee was always perfect, and little gestures like that. Ruby was still learning Weiss’ love language, and she was pretty sure the woman was touched starved. And too stubborn to admit it.

But she willingly let Ruby trick her. Weiss was many things, but Ruby’s pranks were juvenile at best.

“The floor here is really cold,” Ruby said, acting up the shivering. “And we’re out of blankets.”

Weiss looked up to the emergency kit they cracked open for said blanket. There was one left, all the rest disperse among the teams.

Weiss stood up, closing the door to the kit before laying down next to Ruby. “You dolt.”

Between Ruby’s rather warm cloak, body heat, and general exhaustion, the coffee never stood a chance. Weiss fell asleep in Ruby’s arms.

The dreams Ruby had didn’t stick, and she woke up with one arm pins and needled under Weiss.

Her little ice queen drooled, sleeping face to face with Ruby. Relaxed in sleep, Weiss looked peaceful. Peeking over her shoulder, the rest of the teams napped or chatted. No one was looking at them. She wiped the drool off Weiss’ face, onto the blanket.

Leaning down, Ruby pressed her lips against Weiss’. “Hey, sleepy head, wake up,” she murmured.

Weiss shook her head, and pulled Ruby closer. “Five more minutes.”

Chuckling, Ruby kissed her again. Weiss leaned into it, pulling Ruby closer. “Wakie wakie.”

Weiss smiled, but kept her eyes closed. “No.”

Another kiss, this one causing them both to giggle. “I’m the team leader, wakie wakie.”

Weiss shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut.

Ruby dipped her head down to kiss Weiss when someone cleared their voice behind her.

“Do you two need some privacy?” Yang asked, her voice dripping with amusement.

Weiss’ eyes opened in shock.

“Because if you don’t, we would,” Blake said.

Ruby slowly turned her head and looked at the two of them in the doorway. They were both suppressing grins.

At Blake’s comment, Weiss shot up. She adjusted her clothing, although nothing actually happened. Ruby’s cloak flopped over onto her Ruby, and she scrambled to remove it.

“Nothing going on here,” Weiss said, standing stock still and as red as Ruby’s cloak.

“We know,” Blake said, realizing they might have gone too far.

“You two were just being a bit too sweet,” Yang retorted. “But we will be arriving soon. Weapon up and get ready”

Ruby nodded as the other two left. Weiss plastered a scowl on her face, but Ruby knew it was reactionary.

“You ready?” Ruby asked, offering a hand back towards Weiss.

Weiss took it, pulled Ruby in and kissed her one last time. “I’m always ready, dolt.”

“Hey, Weiss?” Ruby stopped. “It’s been a bit crazy, but what are we?”

“We’re teammates, dummy,” Weiss said, although she looked down at her boots.

“I’m teammates with Yang, and we’ve never kissed like that.” Ruby squeezed Weiss’ hand. “I know this might not be the best time, but just, it’s just.”

“It’s Penny, isn’t it?”

“What?” The shock of Weiss’ statement made Ruby dropped her hand.

“You’re afraid that if we become a thing, you’ll forget Penny.” Weiss was staring at the wall, her mind somewhere else. “That you’re afraid of me replacing her.”

Ruby stepped up to Weiss, hand on her shoulder. “Weiss?”

“I loved her too,” Weiss looked over her shoulder at Ruby, tears in her eyes. “Not in the same way, not in how I feel about you. I don’t think we’ll ever forget about her, and I don’t want us to forget her.” Grabbing Ruby, Weiss hugged her.

“We don’t have to be anything, we can just keep kissing, and I’ll keep making you coffee and you can keep me from being cold.” Weiss wiped tears from her eyes. “And if somehow, Penny comes back, we can talk about that.”

Ruby leaned her head against Weiss, smiling through her own tears. “Love you too Weiss. And hey, if Penny does return, you know what?”

Weiss dared to look up. “What?”

“I have two hands.”

With the most epic of eyerolls, Weiss turned around. “Dolt.”


	2. Nuts & Dolts reuniting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Landing in Atlas, Ruby is in for a surprise!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wrote this one first, and tried to make chapter one lead into this. Sorry if it is a bit clunky, but after this it should all flow a bit better

She hung in the air, framed by the moon. Team RWBY and their friends all looked up in shock.

Ruby’s mouth hit the floor, not believing what she was seeing. That red hair, the green dress, it couldn’t be.

She landed with a heavy thunk, turning towards the other huntresses and huntsmen. Her eyes focused on Ruby and widen in surprise and excitement.

Ruby’s heart started to beat faster. It couldn’t be. “Penny?”

“Sal-” she said, crouching low.

Panic settled in Ruby.

“-U-”

“Oh no no.” Ruby looked left and right, but there was nowhere to run.

“-tations!” A flash of green fire and she closed the distance.

Ruby managed to engage her Aura right as Penny impacted her. She was pretty sure the tackle hug only bruised her ribs instead of breaking them.

“It's such a pleasure to see you again!” Penny said. She held onto Ruby’s hand after helping her to her feet.

“Penny...I thought...I thought you died.” Ruby wiped tears from her eyes.

“I mean, technically she did,” Pietro said, walking up to them. “But we found her core intact when Amenity Arena finally arrived here.”

“I’m as good as new!” Penny said.

“And no more accidental shredding,” Pietro said. Penny knocked on her head with a fist, a metallic drum sound. They both laughed.

“That is…” Weiss started.

“...surprisingly wholesome,” Blake finished, both of them smiling.

“That sounds like Penny,” Yang added, joining in on watching her sister reunite with Penny.

“We have so much to catch up on,” Penny said, pulling Ruby into a hug. “I cannot wait!”

In the distance, another alarm sounds.

“It looks like it has to wait.” Still holding onto Ruby, Penny launched them both into the sky.

Ruby, trained huntress and master of aerial combat, wrapped her arms and legs around Penny.

“Meet us back at the house!” Pietro called out after them. Penny turned around in the air to snap off a salute before flying away.

“Penny,” Ruby asked as they flew through the city. “Are you sure this is okay?”

“Everything will be fine.” Penny patted Ruby’s head. “I’m the protector of the city. Plus with you here, I have backup.”

Ruby bit her lip. “I’m not licensed, and it seems like Atlas is pretty strict on that kind of stuff.”

“Oh,” Penny said, sad before perking up. “Don’t worry about it!” She hiccupped.

That made Ruby worry more.

As they cross over a section of the city bathed in red light, Ruby saw the Grimm.

“Do you know what a speedball special is?” Ruby asked, judging the distance between the Grimm and them.

Penny’s eyes faded for a second before brightening. “I do now! Let’s do it!”

Braking in the air, Penny lifted Ruby over her head. Snapping out Crescent Rose, Ruby prepped herself for the throw. “NOW!”

Spinning forward to build up momentum, Penny launched Ruby at the Grimm.

Her impact sent the tiger-like Grimm into the air. Penny’s lasers flashed out and turned them into little specs of evil dust.

Knowing that Penny held air superiority and had awesome lasers, Ruby tossed the Grimm into the air.

Ruby set them up, Penny knocked them down. No other partner Ruby worked with synchronized as well as Penny did. 

Soon the area was clear of Grimm and Penny landed next to Ruby.

“That was so much fun!” Penny hugged Ruby, and Ruby worried if her ribs would ever be the same.

Suddenly, Penny let Ruby go and grabbed a cable out of the air. It wrapped around her arm, but did nothing to impede the robot girl.

“Halt! You are in violation of Atlas law!” A tall, very handsome man jumped down, landing in front of Ruby and Penny. Behind him, four other people jumped down. One carried an odd gun, most likely where the bolos came from. They all wore matching uniforms, blue, white and red of Atlas special operations.

“We are not!” Penny said, pulling the bolos from her arm and placing it on the ground. “You know who I am, Commander Ebi.”

“I have no idea who she is,” Commander Ebi said, pointing at Ruby. “We cannot have unauthorized weapon use in our city.”

“She’s my partner,” Penny said, taking Ruby’s hand and standing between her and the spec ops team.

Commander Ebi frowned, pulling out his scroll. “Is she licenced to hunt in Atlas?”

The glow in Penny’s eyes faded again, dull for a second before coming back. “Yes!” She hiccuped. “Her name is Ruby Rose.”

The scroll in his hand flashed up a picture of Ruby, from back before the fall of Beacon. He peered at the date of licencing, but couldn’t find anything wrong with it.

“My apologies, Miss Polendona and Miss Rose.” Commander Ebi tucked his scroll away. “This is not the only case we need to investigate, have a good evening.” The ops team leaped into the buildings and disappeared into the night.

“What was that?” Ruby asked.

“The Ace Ops, General Ironwood’s elite police force,” Penny reached down to take Ruby’s hand again. She leaned into her. “They are nice people, but my father says they are doing the wrong thing for the right reason. He says it’s okay if I bend the rules.”

“Wait, what do you mean, bend the rules?” Ruby said. “Wait, did you hack his scroll to tell him I was a licensed huntress?”

Penny blushed, grinding her toe into the pavement. “I didn’t hack his scroll…”

“Oh, good,” Ruby said, sighing in relief.

“I hacked the Atlas licensing servers and backdated you into the system.”

“PENNY! That’s illegal!” Ruby looked around, panicking. If they found out she was illegally licensed, she would go to jail and never speak to Ironwood.

“I know, but it was for a good cause!” Penny shrunk down. “They would have taken you to Atlas, and processed you, and I wouldn’t be able to see again for six to eight weeks, if they didn’t deport you for being a non native huntress in Mantle.”

“Penny…” Ruby leaned into the other woman, conflicted.

Penny pressed her forehead against Ruby’s. “I’m sorry for lying, Ruby.”

She shook her head. “I’m not upset you lied, I’m just not sure how to feel about all this.”

“Well, maybe we should also go check on your team, I believe they might be the second task Commander Ebi was referring to.” Penny looked back the way they came. “Although my father says they are in the safe house and thus are safe.”

Ruby shot up. “Oh no! Yes, let’s go!” She turned to start running before stopping. “Can… can we fly there?”

“YES!” Penny said.

“Just, do you have another way of carrying me?”

Penny nodded, and picked Ruby up bridal style. “Let’s go!”

Ruby was pretty sure Penny took the scenic route back, not that she complained. Penny assured her team was safe, the Ace Ops were off making sure that some miners didn’t strike, and Penny could fly. It was one of the coolest things Ruby ever did.

That and it was Penny. Since the Fall of Beacon, she always felt anxious, felt that she could do more. That everything was horrible and she couldn’t do anything about it. But seeing Penny again, she felt that hope again.

That and a few other feelings. The blush across her face was from the cold and not being so close to Penny again.

The safe house turned out to be deep in the slums, another clinic run by Peitro. Penny landed on the roof, although still carrying Ruby. She paused at the door, puzzled at finding her hands occupied. Ruby noticed that Penny’s face was very red, and she wondered how an android would suffer from the cold. 

“Uh, Penny, want to put me down?” Ruby asked, although she didn’t, not really.

“No,” Penny said. “But I think I have to.” She dropped Ruby to her feet. This time, Ruby grabbed her hand as they entered.

In the kitchen, Nora and Ren cooked. Jaune had wondered off to the room he was sharing with the rest of his team. Maria, Peitro, and Oscar conversed at the table.

“Is there anywhere I might be able to change or freshen up a bit?” Ruby asked.

“Your team took a room down the hall,” Maria said. “Although Weiss went to try contacting her sister again. Blake and Yang should be in there.”

Peitro glanced at Ruby and Penny holding hands and smiled.

Leading Ruby to the room Maria said Team RWBY staked out, Penny burst in.

Blake straddled Yang, kissing her as she pinned her to the bed. They both looked up at the interruption before Blake hissed.

“I am so sorry!” Penny pulled the door closed and pushed Ruby into the hallway.

“Well, my room should be free, want to use that?” Penny asked.

“I think it might be safer for me to just stay the night there,” Ruby said.

“YES!” Penny hugged Ruby. “Although it’s not really my room, since my actual room is up in Atlas, but my father always let me have the highest room in the building. Come on!”

Up the stairs they travelled again, but Ruby didn’t care. Penny’s excitement bled over to her.

“Welcome to my-” Penny opened the door before slamming it shut. “Wait, it’s messy, let me clean it up.” She hiccuped before disappearing into the room

Ruby blinked. What she had peeked, the room looked spartan, two beds and a shared dresser drawer.

The unmistakable sound of an old window opening added to the confusion. The scraping sound of someone shoving something heavy across the floor, grunts as they lifted said heavy object before the unmistakable sound of something falling out the window. There was a loud crash, and Ruby heard Weiss yelling.

“What the fuck?! Is that a bed?! What is going on up there?!”

“Sorry Weiss!” Penny yelled back, and the sound of Weiss yelling back quieted as the window shut.

“Come on in!” Penny said, opening the door.

The room now had one bed, a dresser drawer, and the dusty trail of one person flinging the other bed out of the window.

“Penny…” Ruby said, unsure what to say.

“Sorry there is only one bed, but I’m sure we can manage.” She hiccuped and Ruby wondered which part of what she said was a lie.

Smiling, Ruby reached out and hugged Penny. “I am so glad you’re back.”

Penny wrapped her arms around Ruby, and did not crush her ribs this time. “I’ve missed you so much.”

Tear stains appeared on Penny’s top and Ruby realized it was her. She squeezed her friend harder, and didn’t let the tears stop.

Penny cradled her as Ruby cried. All the feelings of the past year, it broke. Ruby wasn’t sure how long she cried, but Penny hugged her, whispered encouragement into her ear, and mostly just made sure Ruby felt safe.

Sitting up, Ruby wiped the snot off her face. “Do you know where the bathroom is? I..I just want to clean my face and put on some clean clothes.”

Penny placed Ruby on the bed, and grabbed a large shirt out of the dresser drawers. “Will this work? The bathroom is just down the hall.” Looking down. “And I can get another bed, if you don’t want to share…”

Taking the shirt, Ruby kissed Penny’s cheek. “I think it would be splendid to share a bed with you. Although I’m big spoon.”

They both laughed and Ruby went to clean up. She changed, brushed her teeth with the stuff on hand, and went back.

Penny had turned off the lights, although the city glowed through the window. Penny had also changed into a sleeping shirt. She grinned at Ruby. “How you feeling?”

Ruby walked over, tilted Penny’s chin up, and kissed her. “Much better, and very tired. Thank you.”

Penny blushed, but did not pull away. “Than lets get some you some sleep.”

“Wait, are you not going to sleep?” Ruby frowned.

“I’m an android. I’ll just shut down for a bit.” She laid on the bed, scooting over so Ruby could spoon her. “And don’t worry, I’ll make sure you aren’t cold.”

“Oh, okay,” Ruby said, unsure but willing to do it. She laid behind Penny, hugging her to her chest. The android was surprisingly warm, and Ruby let it drag her into sleep.

Till Weiss kicked open the door. “Fucking Blake and Yang, they should hang a sock-” She stopped seeing, first only one bed, and two, Ruby and Penny sharing the other one. There was that moment of her wondering if the universe was fucking with her. And that she was too damn tired to deal with it.

“...are you two going to be fucking?”

Ruby blinked, and Penny shook her head.

“Good, move over, I’m tired.”

“Uh….” Ruby and Penny shared a look, but Weiss laid down behind Ruby.

She nuzzled into Ruby and was soon asleep. Ruby, trapped between the two of them smirked and just went with it.

“Tomorrow, I’m the middle spoon,” Penny said, and the other two giggled.


End file.
